A double player of the year in France’s Ligue 1, and one of the most highly-coveted players in Europe at the time he joined the Blues, expectations were understandably high for Hazard’s first season in London. A nomination for the PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year award, as well as a place in the Premier League Team of the Season, suggested he had matched those expectations, and more.
Quick, direct and skilful, Hazard is at his best running at defenders. Equally adept with either foot, the Belgian’s close control while carrying the ball at speed gives him regular scoring and creating opportunities, as demonstrated by his 13 goals and 25 assists in the 2012/13 campaign.
His second season at the Bridge was even more successful as he finished as the club's top scorer and won the club's Player of the Year award, as well as the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Things got even better after a spectacular third year which ended with five high-profile individual accolades, the Premier League title and the Capital One Cup.
2. 2012/2013
After coming off the bench to inspire a second-half comeback in an FA Cup tie at Manchester United, Hazard popped up with another goal of the season contender against West Ham United.
He scored his first Chelsea goal three days later from the penalty spot in a 2-0 win against Newcastle United, while his first strike from open play came in the 4-1 win against Norwich City, finishing off a quick counter-attack by scoring from Juan Mata's pass. Two weeks later, in a game against Spurs, the roles were reversed as Hazard’s defence-splitting first-time pass on the spin set up Mata to score.
Spectacular goals followed, namely in an 8-0 rout of Aston Villa before Christmas, and an impressive victory at Stoke in the new year. Hazard received his first red card as a Chelsea player in the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Swansea City following an altercation with a ball-boy, subsequently seeing the Belgian suspended for three matches. The three-game break appeared to galvanise him, however, as he found his most productive form on his return. A scintillating second-half performance in a Europa League home leg game against Sparta Prague was capped by a stunning injury-time strike that ensured our progression to the last 16.
After coming off the bench to inspire a second-half comeback in an FA Cup tie at Manchester United, Hazard popped up with another goal of the season contender against West Ham United.
His individual form as the season drew to a close was outstanding, and one of the main reasons for our strong finish to the campaign.
Sadly, however, after laying on a history-making goal for Lampard in our penultimate league game at Aston Villa, Hazard sustained a hamstring injury which ruled him out of the Europa League final, but that couldn’t stop it being a maiden season to remember for the winger.
2. 2013/2014
Hazard began his second season well, scoring the second of our two goals in the 2013 UEFA Super Cup against Bayern Munich in Prague.
A spurt of five goals in six games in October and early November suggested Hazard had well and truly settled into life under new manager Jose Mourinho. The Belgian’s performance in a 4-3 win at Sunderland in December, which included two memorable individual strikes and an assist, was hailed by managers, peers and pundits as one of the finest of the year.
It was a streak that continued into 2014 after ending 2013 with crucial strikes against Swansea and Liverpool, and he scored again in Hull before netting his first Chelsea hat-trick against Newcastle following an imperious display in a 1-0 away win at Manchester City.
Hazard’s form had made him indispensable to Mourinho, and it was because of this that Mata was allowed to depart for Manchester United in the January transfer window.
His creativity helped Andre Schurrle to a hat-trick at Fulham as we kept our place atop the Premier League at the beginning of March. He netted cool penalties in home routs of London rivals Tottenham and Arsenal that month, and proved similarly clinical from the spot in Europe, scoring a crucial away goal in Paris.
He ended a fine second season in west London by winning the club's Player of the Year award. Blues fans had taken note of his importance to the side.
2. 2014/2015
No Chelsea player has ever received as many individual accolades in a single season as the mercurial Hazard did in 2014/15.
Satisfyingly, there was collective triumph to go with those personal honours as we won both the Premier League and the Capital One Cup. Hazard’s form never dipped below outstanding.
He started all but five of our 54 games in all competitions and was rarely taken off by Mourinho such was his potentially decisive impact from first minute to last.
Hazard netted his first goal of his third season in west London in a 2-0 home win against Leicester, and in the next game he helped force an own goal from Seamus Coleman in a high-scoring victory at Everton. His performance in our fourth consecutive success of a strong start to the season, against Swansea, earned praise from Mourinho afterwards, who highlighted the winger's consistency over the whole game even when things were not going well for the team.
It was a facet of his game the manager cited throughout the season as one Hazard had worked hard at improving. He, and his teammates, reaped the benefits.
Never out of the league starting XI, Hazard continued to shine as 2014 drew to a close, scoring against Hull, Derby and Southampton. He began the new year in style, too, our outstanding player in an otherwise disappointing 5-3 defeat to Tottenham in which he fired home a fine left-footed finish and also played a key part in our other two goals that day.
Hazard signed a new five-and-a-half year contract at Stamford Bridge in February 2015 and played the full 90 minutes of our Capital One Cup triumph over Tottenham that month.
As our style of play became more pragmatic as injuries and suspensions set in, it was often Hazard that provided the spark. Four consecutive away wins between February and April were to prove crucial; Hazard scored in the first three, at Villa, West Ham and Hull, and created Cesc Fabregas’s pivotal late winner at QPR. It defined the pair’s glorious link-up play all campaign.
A week after that victory at Loftus Road, Hazard scored the only goal of the game as we beat a resurgent Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. Shortly after, he was named PFA Player of the Year, the first of four major individual prizes he would pick up. He was unsurprisingly voted into the PFA Team of the Season, too.
Fittingly, it was Hazard that netted the title-clinching goal against Crystal Palace, converting the rebound after his penalty had been saved.
The individual awards kept coming. The Football Writers’ Association voted him their Footballer of the Year, and he was also named the Barclays Premier League Player of the Year.
At our end-of-season awards ceremony, Hazard was voted the Player of the Year for the second season running, and his contribution was acknowledged by his peers, too, as he won the Players’ Player of the Year prize.
It was the perfect end to a near-enough perfect season.
3. PRE-CHEALSEA
Born on 7 January 1991 in La Louviere, Belgium, both of Hazard's parents played football at a professional level.
After a youth career which saw him play for both Royal Stade Brainois and Tubize, he made the switch to Lille back in 2005.
Two years later, during the 2007/08 season, he made a handful of substitute appearances, before the following campaign saw him really make his mark and become a first team regular, earning him international recognition and the Young Player of the Year award at only 17 years old.
The 2009/10 season saw him shine once again, ensuring he was crowned Young Player of the Year for the second successive season, while also being named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year.
The 2010/11 campaign was arguably his most memorable in a Lille shirt, although it didn't start well. Hazard was publicly criticised by Belgium coach Georges Leekens before being dropped for Lille and failing to start a game for two months.
However, after forcing his way back into the side, he played an integral role in inspiring the team to a league and cup double, while also being crowned Player of the Year.
Glowing references from the likes of Zinedine Zidane only served to enhance his stock, and it was almost inevitable that one day the biggest clubs in Europe would come calling.
During his final season at Lille, when he was a team-mate of Joe Cole, he scored 21 goals in 48 games and made 18 assists, as the club finished third behind Montpellier and Paris St-Germain to make the Champions League qualifying rounds.
He signed off in style after being handed the captain's armband for his final game for Lille, scoring a memorable hat-trick against Nancy in a devastating first-half display. For the fourth consecutive year his performances were acknowledged at France’s annual end of season awards do, again claiming the Player of the Year gong.
4. INTERNATIONAL
Hazard made his Belgium international debut as a 17-year-old in a game against Luxembourg in November 2008, coming on as a late substitute.
He made his full debut nine months later against a Czech Republic side captained by Petr Cech and soon established himself as a first-choice regular for his national team.
A first goal at international level arrived in October 2011, though a clearly talented Belgian squad fell short of qualifying for Euro 2012.
Two days before his move to Stamford Bridge was confirmed, Hazard and Belgium played against England at Wembley in a 1-0 loss, the winger impressing with his pace and trickery.
Hazard featured in nine of Belgium’s 10 World Cup qualification matches as they booked their place at a major tournament for the first time since 2002.
Hazard started all of Belgium's matches in Brazil as they reached the quarter-finals of the competition, but failed to have the kind of positive impact he would have hoped for.
A brilliant run and pass in their opening game, however, allowed Dries Mertens to score in a 2-1 win against Algeria.
Belgium won all three of their group games before overcoming USA in the Second Round. They were eventually eliminated by Argentina, a game which saw Hazard substituted in the closing stages.
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